Beautiful Springtime

MaashAllah!

What U did today

This is a summary of what five year old U did today;
- copied out the word "the" three times
- drew a picture and asked me to write three words about it for her to copy onto the picture
- Used www.starfall.com
- Read "Sam's Pot", a Songbirds phonics reader.
- Wrote a letter (she told me what to put, I wrote it and she copied it out.) This was her own idea, maashAllah.
- colouring
-looked through story books
-played with toys
-played in the garden
- listened to a story
- tried doing some washing up (Her idea again! I don't like finding all that water inside the gloves afterwards.)
- went swimming

It would have been nice to get something maths related in there today, but I think she did well, alhamdulillah.

Written Answers

I'm working on formulating written answers with the boys. Over the last couple of days we have used the questions at the end of Unit 2 lesson 2 of "A History of Muslim Civilization". The first question asks about the aspects of Muhammad (saw)'s character which prepared members of his clan and tribe to accept his claim of prophethood. The second question was to describe Muhammad (saw)'s social position in Makkah before prophethood.
The information for these answers is contained in the three text pages of the unit, and it is fairly straightforward to pick out the points, but putting them together properly is another skill altogether, and this is part of the transition from primary to secondary education I suppose. The boys first response is to write out the information, in sentences, but in a way which forms little more than a list. This is fine at primary level, it shows you have the facts to answer the question with. But what we are needing to work on is:
a. constantly relating the information to precisely answering the question
b. writing a concluding sentence wrapping up the information into an answer

It is not so much about supplying the information to answer the question, but manipulating the information into a specific answer.
The only way to deal with this, as far as I can see, is to practice and to go through all answers to work out how improvements could be made and keep drumming it in:
How does this answer the question?
And, Where is your conclusion?

Any suggestions? Is there something I'm missing?

History

I have always covered history informally with the boys. I have not followed topics in any particular order, but I think they have a reasonable general knowledge of the kind of history topics children of their age may have heard about. Maybe the exception to this is Roman Britain.
Recently for history study they have been doing a little regular reading of Usborne's History of Britain. I think this is a very good book to have as a reference. Its chronological arrangement, covering all the periods up to the present makes it easy for a primary aged child to get an overview of the whole picture before looking in more detail at the periods which interest them most. The material is also published in a series of smaller books covering different periods, andwe've had these from the library in the past.
Anyway, since getting the Muslim history book I blogged about previously I thought we'd take a break from the Usborne and make use of the early chapters of the Muslim history book on the pre-Islamic period and on the nature and meaning of history itself. I'm doing this through reading aloud and discussion. Today we read about what makes a civilization, the rise and fall of civilizations, the pre-historic (pre-written records) era and then the early civilizations which grew up near major rivers. I really like the broad approach here, and I really liked the discussion of how early peoples organized themselves. The writer really relates the behaviours of early people to the behaviours of people of all times (arguing over small matters, needing a leader to get anything done). It makes for interesting discussion, maashAllah!

Akimbo

This is what I'm reading to the girls in the evenings at the moment. Under the flash glare the author's name is Alexander McCall Smith. The girls both enjoy watching their Big Cat Week DVD, and to help them imagine the scene in this book I just asked them to think about the landscape in Big Cat Week. This helps them feel closer to the story. Although this book (about a park ranger trying to trap a lion which has taken to eating cattle, then adopting a lion cub) is very good for a 7 year old, it is less so for a 5 year old, but U is enjoying it anyway. There are others in the series, "Akimbo and the Elephants" and "Akimbo and the Crocodile", which I hope to read to them later, inshAllah.

The girls have done some drawing again today. Here U was copying a castle picture. Later the page became very full of action!

Wednesday

This is a home education blog, isn't it?

So, we are easing back slowly into our normal routines. The girls spent time on Education City today, we all watched Monday's Bang Goes the Theory and the boys did some reading and read aloud. The boys have been working on their Roblox games.

Still here!

Just popping in to say that I have not given up blogging!!! Just been having a hectic few days. InshAllah normal blogging will resume shortly!

Muslim History book

So, we are still on a break at the moment, and there is not too much that is blogworthy about the last few days. However, last week I received a delivery of books that I had been looking forward to and since then I've been reading "A History of Muslim Civilization". (Iqra publications)
It is a typical textbook style book, with plenty of illustrations and maps, laid out into units and lessons. At the end of each lesson are some review questions, with unit reviews at the end of each unit. The book does not begin with Islam at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), rather it spends quite a while setting the scene, explaining the international context of the era, describing the political and religious forces and influences which were at play before the Islamic revelations. The account ends in 750CE with the end of the Umayyads.
The introduction states that this is the first of a three volume series which should be completely published by 2005. Oh dear! I wonder what has happened to the project?
I am impressed with this book. It is clearly written and seems to be making a conscious effort to be strictly factual, whilst openly stating a Muslim perspective. I think this approach can be understood by the statements in the forward explaining that this is a Muslim history rather than an Islamic history.
Apart from just enjoying reading this book I plan to use it with the boys as part of their Islamic Studies work. We have been going through the seerah (history of the Prophet Muhammad (saw)) recently, and these concise, clear chapters will be a great help, inshAllah. I'm also getting the boys to develop their written answers skills through Islamic history studies and the review questions in the book are just right for this. The questions often lend themselves to short essay answers on main events/themes.
I have seen this book in one UK bookshop, although I don't think it is commonly stocked. I bought my copy via mail order from Al-Farooq International , based in Leicester.

Warm spring weekend

This weekend we have been looking at and touching fossils at the museum.

I have been gardening and the girls have played a lot outside too, maashAllah. They have also all been out playing with friends. Alhamdulillah for the good weather we've had.

The girls and I have also walked a little round the local area, where we came across this beautiful display of daffodils, maashAllah.

Plus there has been cricket and football.

Just Playing

Continuing off-shedule. On Thursday we had a lovely day out with friends. The rest of the time I've been doing lots of gardening, the girls have been playing and the boys have had the chance to go swimming and get some football practice. More of the same today, inshAllah.

Off shedule

We are "off shedule" at the moment, apart from Ia's Quran lessons. Yesterday was sunny and pleasant so we all spent lots of time in the garden maashAllah. The cold winter has killed off a few plants, so I dug some of them up and replaced them with some cuttings given by H's friend. I suspect a couple of other plants have died too, including one cistus bush which has previously been the star of the summer garden with its continuous supply of purple flowers. I'm just giving it a little longer to be sure, as there is a little green on some of it. I don't know much about plants really, it is all a bit hit and miss! This morning there is light rain, so maybe I won't be continuing the garden work today.
The boys have been playing on Roblox, playing outside and visiting their friend. The girls have also been out visiting, playing with soft toys and reading.

Another Roblox game

J has also been working on a game. Both boys plan to add more to their games in time, inshAllah.
I've been forging a ton of hidden bases on ROBLOX

Roblox game

R has been building a game on Roblox. It is an obstacle course type game.

Roblox lets you build and script your own games (in his words).

The link takes you R'sprofile, where you can see his game, which is called "The Greatest Obby in Roblox"
Take a look at my witty profile in the crazy virtual world ROBLOX
from R

Usborne lift the flap

When I come across a non-fiction book I really like at the library it is very often published by Usborne. They seem to have got it just right in terms of delivering information in an interesting way.

In the photo are two books we currently have on loan, which are just right for Ia at the moment, maashAllah. The Planet Earth one is a lift the flap book. Each page is a full illustration, with lots of little flaps to lift and information usually printed on both sides of the flap.

Looking for a project? Why not make one of these yourself? Not a whole book of course, maybe just a double page,like a greetings card. Double up the card pages, so that you can cut a flap in the top layer and read on the layer underneath. Oh! I just thought of that now as I typed. What shall we make one about???? Magnets maybe, hmm tricky to illustrate....ok, come back to that later, inshAllah.

The book on the right is filled with double page spreads on animals in different habitats. Around the outside are pictures and information about each animal and you have to search for their pictures in the very busy, cluttered page. I hope no child gets the impression from this that in the real wild all these creatures live so crowded together. It looks more like a crowded urban street at peak hours (except with animals!) But, nevertheless, it is fun searching for all those creatures and grouping them by habitat.

Both these books are part of series, and I think they are great for young readers to dip in and out of, reading as much as they want at any time, without having to read the whole thing in sequence.

Look out for them at the library, inshAllah!

Home ed fitness training (non-physical)

In the course of home eddding I find myself reading a lot of books. For example I've just finished reading aloud a chapter of "The House at Pooh Corner". (Some evenings ago the boys overheard me reading AA Milne to the girls and they couldn't help laughing. Now they are old enough to get the jokes, maashAllah.)

Then I read aloud various picture library books to U, I read aloud to the boys and during the boys Islamic Studies sessions I'm reading from books written for adults and I simplify where necessary.

I also try to read some of the non-fiction library books I get for the boys, although they read them by themselves. Why am I reading those books? Because I need to refresh my knowledge and keep a little ahead. At the moment we have an interesting book from the library called "Chemicals in action: Metals". This book is written in a simple (thankfully) but informative way. I find myself trying to memorise facts such as: when metal reacts with acid hydrogen and a salt are formed. I don't NEED to know this now, but the last time I studied chemistry I was 16 and the parts of my brain that dealt with those things have long rusted over. Not that a metal oxide has formed on my brain (see p 28 ), but you know what I mean. To take this idea further......I need to undergo a thorough polish and galvanisation.

Get myself ready for study, be in the right learning zone myself. Otherwise how can I expect my children to be in learning mode??? Surely I need to set the right example.

You get the picture.

And then there is the book in the picture at the top of the post. It is a fun read, readable in short chunks, which is handy considering all theinterruptions a mother has to contend with. It covers all sorts of language, including (briefly) the obscene, so be aware of that before letting kids dip into it. But a gentle way for a busy adult to keep on learning and flexing her brain!

A little refresh

We've been working quite hard here recently, lots of learning going on, alhamdulillah. Also lots of thinking about what is being learnt and how, and thinking about how to take that forward. Add to that the seasonal changes and how this impacts on some of our regular activities. The move from the football to the cricket season for example. (Not that it isn't still very cold of course!)
We also need to do some work around the house, so now seems like the right time to take a little break from the structured work. This coincides with the school holidays too of course, and maybe there'll be some activities to take advantage of, inshAllah.
Today we finished off an English book chapter and got to a point in the French book where we can take a break and come back to a quick revision. Same with the science topics.
And to give this blog a little sense of freshness and moving forward I went out and took these photos this morning, before the cloud came over and the rain poured!